About TNW

TNW Sites

The Pirate Bay “Soap Opera” continues – Buyer could be bankrupt

Given Hollywood’s hatred of The Pirate Bay, it’s ironic that the story of the site would actually make a really good film. The latest twist in the long tale of the BitTorrent tracking service comes with news that the company lined up to buy it and ‘take it legit’ faces bankruptcy.

Torrentfreak reports that Global Gaming Factory (GGF) is subject to a request for bankruptcy due to an outstanding debt of $188,000 owed to a company called Advate Systems. Advate’s owner Johan Sellstrom (reported to also be a former board member and director of GGF), has reportedly submitted a request in Sweden stating “The debtor can not legally pay its debts, and this incapacity can not be regarded as temporary”.

With the deadline for GGF’s purchase of The Pirate Bay due to expire soon, and the deal apparently uncompleted, the future of the site remains unclear. Peter Sunde (AKA Brokep), one of The Pirate Bay’s founders set to profit from the deal, doesn’t appear too worried about it being close to collapse. He tweeted earlier today “Can’t help to love this soap-opera”.

With The Pirate Bay having been taken offline temporarily by courts recently, entertainment companies around the world baying for its blood and its founders’ guilty verdict this year, the end is surely close. Even if it does disappear multiple clones of the site will keep it running, in spirit at least. Take into account the other, less well-known known, tracker services out there and the piracy problem is still far from being solved.